“The Apostle”
Also referred to as “the Apostle” and “the Founder” of the Worldwide Church of God, Herbert W. Armstrong was an early pioneer of radio and tele-evangelism, taking to the airwaves in the 1930s from Eugene, Oregon.
Armstrong was a controversial figure, promoting a varying set of theological doctrines sometimes referred to by its critics as “Armstrongism.” To Armstrong, he was merely refining traditional Christianity with a fundamentalist spin, adding a hybrid of literalism and exegesis into his teachings, which were by all accounts apocalyptic on one hand, and utopian on the other. Armstrong preached that Jesus Christ would return after a horrendous Apocalypse to establish what he termed “The World Tomorrow”, a divine kingdom ruled by the Messiah in which the faithful would rule side-by-side with Christ as godlike ‘kings and priests’.
Armstrong never claimed these doctrines to be his, but rather “the plain truth” found within the Bible. His teachings included an interpretation of biblical prophecy through the lense of “British Israelism.” He also required of his followers obedience to Levitical laws including the Sabbath observance, Jewish dietary prohibitions, and the Jewish holy day calendar. He also proclaimed that he was called by God as an “Apostle”, an “end-time Elijah” to proclaim the Gospel to the world before the Apocalypse and impending return of Jesus Christ.
His many accomplishments include the foundation of the Ambassador International Cultural Foundation, which promoted the humanitarian projects, as well as the arts. Armstrong and his advisers met with heads of governments throughout the world due to his association with this foundation, for which he described himself as an “ambassador” for world peace.
Early Life and Conversion
Herbert Armstrong was born in Des Moines, Iowa, on July 31, 1892. His was a Quaker family and he regularly attended Sunday school. By the age of 18 took a job in the want-ad department the Des Moines Daily Capital. This led to a career in the print advertising industry, which shaped the communication style he would later use to forge his ministry.
In 1917, Armstrong married Loma Dillon, schoolteacher and returned to live in Chicago. Their children were Beverly Lucile, Dorothy Jane, Richard David, and Garner Ted. After several business setbacks, Armstrong and family moved back to Eugene, Oregon in 1924 to live with his parents. Yet, he continued his work in the advertising business.
During their stay in Oregon, Loma became acquainted with a member of the Church of God Seventh Day, who persuaded here tha the Sabbath was to be observed on Saturday instead of the traditional Sunday. Armstrong rejected her new ideas as “religious fanaticism”. Yet, she challenged him to find biblical support for Sunday observance. Since his business was failing, he had time to take up the challenge.
He soon felt God was inspiring his lengthy Bible study sessions, opening his mind to “truths” that historical Christian churches had rejected. He made a similar study into the Theory of Evolution. His studies on these two subjects convinced him that his wife was right and that Sunday Sabbath observance and Evolution were false. He was shortly thereafter baptized by the pastor of Hinson Memorial Baptist Church in Portland, Oregon.
Excommunication from COG-7
In 1931 Armstrong become an ordained minister within the Church of God, Seventh Day. He ultimately severed ties with them after a doctrinal dispute over British Israelism forced the Seventh Day Adventists to remove him from their church for heresy. This would inspire him to write The United States and Britain in Prophecy.
His ministerial credentials were revoked by the COG Seventh Day in 1938, yet he believed he was being inspired by God to preach what he had learned.
Published Works
Armstrong wrote the following books over the course of his life.
Please note that Silenced DOES NOT endorse the contents of these books and they are linked merely for illustrative purposes as to his writing style. Armstrong was an advertiser and sold his message like a product for a client. This is what a scam looks like:
Autobiography of Herbert W. Armstrong
Pagan Holidays or God’s Holy Days—Which?
The Ambassador College Bible Correspondence Course
The Incredible Human Potential
The Plain Truth About Christmas
The Resurrection was Not on Sunday
The United States and Britain in Prophecy
The Wonderful World Tomorrow, What it Will be Like
Which Day is the Christian Sabbath?
Radio Church of God
On January 7, 1934, the Radio Church of God radio program began broadcasting on KORE in Eugene with Armstrong as host. It was essentially a condensed church service on the air, with hymn singing featured along with Armstrong’s message. This was the launching point for what would become Worldwide Church of God.
Armstrong moved to Pasadena, California, and he officially incorporated his church first on March 3, 1946 as the Radio Church of God. He wrote that the apocalypse would begin in 1936, later postponed to 1943, then 1972, then indefinitely. These prophecies each attracted many new members into the fold and garnered Armstrong much-needed attention to grow his church, which eventually outgrew his simple radio program.
Worldwide Established
On January 5, 1968, the corporate name of the church was changed to Worldwide Church of God as it transitioned from a remote radio-base church to forming real congregations across the world. Members began to meet for the ‘Feast of Tabernacles’ and other versions of Jewish holy festivals as translated by Armstrong to modern-day western parlance. It was headquartered in Pasadena, California and was for decades until the organization’s collapse and transformation in the mid 90s.
The World Tomorrow
The World Tomorrow radio broadcast was the original broadcast that launched the Radio Church of God, and was hosted by Herbert W. Armstrong for years. The programs originated daily in a half-hour format, primarily from a studio located on the campus of Ambassador College. Other studios were located at Ambassador College, Bricket Wood, Herts, England and Ambassador College at Big Sandy, Texas.
The World Tomorrow Television Broadcast was split into two era, the first era featuring Herbert W. Armstrong speaking from a Hollywood sound stage in the 1950s before the advent of videotape when all syndicated programs had to be recorded on film. The original series was shown on a portion of the ABC Television Network for half an hour, once a week in black and white.
The second era began in the 1970s and lasted well into 1980s. The presenter was originally Garner Ted Armstrong, and then following his departure from his father’s church, Herbert W. Armstrong resumed the presentation. The thrust of the broadcasts was largely to present how current events in the world tied into the church’s views of Biblical prophecies. Both the radio and televisions of The World Tomorrow invariably informed their audience how to receive the church’s magazine, The Plain Truth, the content of which was largely similar to that of the broadcasts.
Doomsday Prophecies
Armstrong predicted in his book 1975 in Prophecy! that the end times would begin in 1972, resulting in Christ’s return in 1975. This caused his legion of followers within WCG to brace themselves for the end of the world.
Many families cancelled future plans such as marriage, starting a family, buying a house or similar life milestones, and started to prepare for the impending apocalypse. As 1972 approached, it became clear that these prophecies would not come to pass. While the European Union was a concept in the making, it took another 20 years for it to come to pass. This was Armstrong’s last failed prophecy, but not his first. The ex-member hub The Painful Truth presents a full listing of the failed prophecies Armstrong made throughout his 52 year ministry. A smaller list can be found at On Doctrine.
Controversy
Armstrong is said to have suffered from symptoms of psychosis. He built a church universally considered a cult to this very day.
He was infamous not only for his tyranny but using his training as an advertiser to propagandize his followers into believing that he was meeting with world leaders “to preach the gospel”, which could not have been further from the truth.
After being left a widower by the death of his wife, Loma, eleven years earlier, Herbert W. Armstrong married Ramona Martin in 1977, a woman nearly fifty years his younger, then 38, a long-time member and church secretary who had a 15-year old son from a previous marriage. They moved to Tucson, Arizona. The controversial marriage would last for only a few years.
The Armstrongs separated in 1982 with Herbert Armstrong returning to live in Pasadena full-time, and the marriage finally ended in divorce in 1984. During the divorce proceedings, Armstrong was accused of sexually molesting a minor.
Armstrong flew around on a private jet, which some called “the flying whorehouse” due to rumors of sexual escapades with hookers on-board.
He used the millions siphoned from WCG members in tithed donations to live a pampered lifestyle in a Pasadena mansion where he ate off of golden plates and flatware while many of his followers lived in destitution.
Death of HWA
In September 1985, with his failing health widely known, Armstrong delivered his final sermon on the Feast of Trumpets in the Ambassador Auditorium.
He spent his final days confined to his campus home on South Orange Grove Boulevard.
Only nine days after naming Jospeh Tkach Sr. as his successor, Armstrong died shortly before 6:00 a.m. on January 16, 1986, at the age of 93.
Initially, a small private service was planned, seeking to avoid sensationalism and deification. But when rumors circulated that protesters might attempt to demonstrate during the funeral, the church leadership quickly decided to invite the public, including the thousands of local church members. Approximately 4,000 people attended, including a number of local political figures.
Legacy
The legacy of Herbert W. Armstrong is one that many people do not remember or recognize, yet the effect his work had on the mainstream Christian landscape is inescapable when examined closely. His rise coincided with the rise of many evangelical leaders in America, including Billy Graham, Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson, though they at first rejected Christian fundamentalism and his teachings of the “coming Kingdom of God” and the “impending Apocalypse.” However, these teachings have since gained steam in mainstream Christianity after his death.
Armstrong built a powerful doomsday cult, the remnants of which continue to exploit and oppress people throughout the world.
